Sooner, or, Later
I guess I had to write this sooner or later. I just didn't know where to start or what to say. Or if I wanted to say anything at all.
I guess the thing that kills me the most isn't necessarily the losing in and of itself.
As John Harms said in The Age after the game, this Grand Final "offered the Geelong Football Club, and especially us supporters, the best opportunity for nearly 50 years to rid ourselves of that debilitating notion that things happen to us."
It had that feel about it, didn't it? That Geelong lost the game more than Hawthorn won it. That all the little things went right for Geelong but the big things didn’t happen at all. You got the feeling that, during that second quarter, if someone could take a big grab, or break a tackle, or just kick truly, that they might have been away.
Didn’t happen.
From late in the first term to about the middle of the third, Geelong scored 3 goals, 19 behinds.
Can we use the dreaded c-word? Can anything else explain missing a goal from that close, or not hand-balling to a team-mate 30m in the clear in the goal square?
It wasn’t an extraordinary performance by Hawthorn. In fact, Geelong controlled most of the play: 15 more clearances, 20 more inside 50s, Buddy 2 goals, Mitchell 13 touches. The game went exactly as many had gone for the Cats during the past two seasons: An even start, Geelong wrestling away the ball and control, and eventually overwhelming the opposition, and the scoreboard, with weight of possession and shots on goal.
Only one of those things didn’t happen.
Is it worth questioning team selection? (Stokes, Varcoe / Gamble, Wojcinski)
Is it worth whinging about team tactics? (the Hodge match-up, SJ too far up the ground)
No.
There is no such thing as ‘should have’ when it comes to sport.
Geelong had their chances. And they missed too many goals. That’s really all there is to it. And credit to Hawthorn. They took their chances (18.7, 12 goals from 40+ metres) and they made Geelong’s more difficult.
Still, I don’t think I’ll ever get over that one. I’m not going to watch it again, probably ever. I don’t even want to think about it. So, where does that leave us?
It leaves us empty.
Empty but looking forward.
It's the only place we can look.
There is hope there, comfort in the fact that premiership currency, won or lost, holds value for only one year.
I guess I had to write this sooner or later. I just didn't know where to start or what to say. Or if I wanted to say anything at all.I guess the thing that kills me the most isn't necessarily the losing in and of itself.
As John Harms said in The Age after the game, this Grand Final "offered the Geelong Football Club, and especially us supporters, the best opportunity for nearly 50 years to rid ourselves of that debilitating notion that things happen to us."
It had that feel about it, didn't it? That Geelong lost the game more than Hawthorn won it. That all the little things went right for Geelong but the big things didn’t happen at all. You got the feeling that, during that second quarter, if someone could take a big grab, or break a tackle, or just kick truly, that they might have been away.
Didn’t happen.
From late in the first term to about the middle of the third, Geelong scored 3 goals, 19 behinds.
Can we use the dreaded c-word? Can anything else explain missing a goal from that close, or not hand-balling to a team-mate 30m in the clear in the goal square?
It wasn’t an extraordinary performance by Hawthorn. In fact, Geelong controlled most of the play: 15 more clearances, 20 more inside 50s, Buddy 2 goals, Mitchell 13 touches. The game went exactly as many had gone for the Cats during the past two seasons: An even start, Geelong wrestling away the ball and control, and eventually overwhelming the opposition, and the scoreboard, with weight of possession and shots on goal.
Only one of those things didn’t happen.
Is it worth questioning team selection? (Stokes, Varcoe / Gamble, Wojcinski)
Is it worth whinging about team tactics? (the Hodge match-up, SJ too far up the ground)
No.
There is no such thing as ‘should have’ when it comes to sport.
Geelong had their chances. And they missed too many goals. That’s really all there is to it. And credit to Hawthorn. They took their chances (18.7, 12 goals from 40+ metres) and they made Geelong’s more difficult.
Still, I don’t think I’ll ever get over that one. I’m not going to watch it again, probably ever. I don’t even want to think about it. So, where does that leave us?
It leaves us empty.
Empty but looking forward.
It's the only place we can look.
There is hope there, comfort in the fact that premiership currency, won or lost, holds value for only one year.
posted by the captain at 11:54 am
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